The Wardman Wire

From the Independent on Sunday yesterday:

IoS Mental Health Campaign: Campbell calls for end to stigma of depression in the workplace

Fair enough, you might say, to call for an end to stigma in the workplace. Yes - of course.

But they need some different icons (note: it is not clear whether the Depression Alliance - which is an excellent organisation - appointed Mr Campbell, or the newspaper chose to talk to him), since however well your icon has done to overcome his own depression the basic idea of an icon is as a symbol for your objectives.

The Depression Alliance Report makes these recommendations for employers (page 7):

Recommendations resulting from this research report

Tackling stigma and improving work opportunities and experience

1. Employers should review their policies and procedures to ensure that high standards for anti-discriminatory, anti-oppressive and inclusive practice are applied in all aspects of employment including recruitment, management, occupational health and personal development.

2. Employers should provide training/education/information to all their staff about depression and its impact and how they can help colleagues affected by it.

3. Employers should work pro-actively to ensure that employees with depression receive support that is commensurate with their needs.- The support systems advocated by respondents were: flexitime, cover for time off, and counselling or other support from occupational health.

4. Employers should ensure that staff members do not feel threatened in their working environments and that working hours and workloads are not excessive.

5. Occupational health services should work proactively with people with depression, offering and co-ordinating support within the work environment, and paying particular attention to quality of sleep.

There’s quite a lot of good stuff here, though much of it could have been predicted as recommendations from a campaigning charity:

Us, us, us - we want attention. Spend more money on our issue. Training. Cross-cutting workplace wide programmes. Pro-active management action. Ensure that anti-oppressive practice (what?) is applied in all aspects of employment including the long list that follows. Time-off. Cover. Councilling. Please do it all.

Anyway, you get the idea.

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who didn’t feel threatened by Campbell, or to hear how many people he drove to depression himself - certainly there are people out there who left or moved jobs because of his way of conducting himself.

It is not a good choice to appoint a bully to urge a solicitous attitude to employees and colleagues on the rest of us.